"Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (; 22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian opera composer who has been called ""the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi"". Puccini's early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera. Later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic ""verismo"" style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccini's most renowned works are ""La bohème"" (1896), ""Tosca"" (1900), ""Madama Butterfly"" (1904), and ""Turandot"" (1924), all of which are among the important operas played as standards. Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria"
"This theater was the scene of the birth of the first French grand opera, and the first romantic opera, with the premier of ""La Muette de Portici"" by Auber in July 1829. The theme of this opera, the rebellion of the people of Naples against Spanish rule, was particularly romantic and revolutionary. A performance of the opera in Brussels in 1830 led to riots, followed by a real revolution. Wagner attended a performance and wrote, ""it was something entirely new; no one had seen a subject of an opera so current; it was the first true musical drama in five"
"by Giacomo Puccini in 1896 and ""La bohème"" by Ruggero Leoncavallo in 1897. Puccini's became one of the most popular operas of all time, spawning several later works based on the same story. La Vie de Bohème La Vie de Bohème (full title in French, ""Scènes de la vie de bohème"") is a work by Henri Murger, published in 1851. Although it is commonly called a novel, it does not follow standard novel form. Rather, it is a collection of loosely related stories, all set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s, romanticizing bohemian life in a playful"
"December 1830. Three Paris theaters were permitted to produce operas; The Royal Academy of Music on rue Le Peletier; the Opéra-Comique, and the Théâtre-Italien, nicknamed ""Les Bouffes"". The Royal Academy, financed by the government, was in dire financial difficulties. In February, the government handed over management of the theater to a gifted entrepreneur, Doctor Véron, who had become wealthy selling medicinal ointments. Véron targeted the audience of the newly-wealthy Parisian businessmen and entrepreneurs; he redesigned the theater to make the loges smaller (six seats reduced to four seats), installed gas lights to improve visibility, and launched a new repertoire to"
"death of his vain and selfish lover, des Grieux collapses across her body (Manon, des Grieux: ""Fra le tue braccia, amore""). The opera is scored for piccolo (doubling 3rd flute), two flutes, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, bass tuba, timpani, triangle, drum, tam-tam, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, celesta, harp, and strings, together with offstage flute, offstage cornet, offstage bell, offstage drum, and offstage sleigh bells. Manon Lescaut (Puccini) Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini, composed between 1890 and 1893. The story is based on"
"1883, and continued to play there until the following March. From 17 December 1887 it was revived at the Théâtre des Menus-Plaisirs for 50 performances, with Jane Pierny as Fanchon, Jacquin as François, Bartel as Pontcornet and Alice Berthier as the comtesse de la Savonnière. In October 1896 the Folies-Dramatiques revived it with Jean Périer in the title role. The work was staged at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens on 17 January 1900 for a further 36 performances, with Périer again and Anne Tariol-Baugé as Fanchon. The opera takes place in Paris in 1789. François les Bas-Bleus, friend of all sweethearts,"
"praised by Ignaz Moscheles - 'Music of a genuine dramatic character, which has more flow of melody than his other operas. The subject is cleverly worked out and very impressive.' In 1850 it opened in London, to mediocre reviews, but was graced by a visit from Queen Victoria (for which the French cast had to be hurriedly coached to sing ""God Save the Queen""). Stéphan (tenor) seeks to escape conscription by the French army. He is loved by the young Rose de Mai (soprano), Rose's mistress, the widow Thérèse (mezzo-soprano) and the wealthy Georgette (soprano). When he is condemned to"
"La muette de Portici La muette de Portici (""The Dumb Girl of Portici"", or ""The Mute Girl of Portici""), also called Masaniello () in some versions, is an opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Germain Delavigne, revised by Eugène Scribe. The work has an important place in music history as the earliest French grand opera. It is also known for its role in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. The opera was first given at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra on 29 February 1828. The role of Masaniello was taken by the famous"
"to a more romantic story, set in 17th-century Paris, and featuring dramatised versions of two historical characters, Cyrano de Bergerac and Ninon de Lenclos, the ""Ninette""of the title. The opera was staged before Edmond Rostand's play about Cyrano, which was written the following year. The Cyrano presented by Lecocq's librettists differs considerably from Rostand's version, being a dashing, confident and good-looking hero. Act I: Place Royale<br> The setting is Paris in 1640. Cyrano de Bergerac, the famous poet and duellist, loves and is loved by Ninon de l'Enclos (Ninette), a famous Parisian beauty. The two have exchanged letters, each containing"
"plague of Puccini's opera, is replaced by HIV/AIDS in ""Rent""; 1800s Paris is replaced by New York's East Village in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The names and identities of ""Rent""s characters also heavily reflect Puccini's original characters, though they are not all direct adaptations. For example, Joanne in ""Rent"" represents the character of Alcindoro in ""Bohème"", but is also partially based on Marcello. Also, Joanne is the only ""Rent"" character whose predecessor in ""La Bohème"" is the opposite sex. Other examples of parallels between Larson's and Puccini's work include Larson's song ""Light My Candle"", which draws melodic content"
"Tosca Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, ""La Tosca"", is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias. Puccini saw Sardou's play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some"
"The Duchess of Dantzic The Duchess of Dantzic is a comic opera in three acts, set in Paris, with music by Ivan Caryll and a book and lyrics by Henry Hamilton, based on the play ""Madame Sans-Gêne"" by Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau. Additional lyrics by Adrian Ross. The story concerns Napoleon I and a laundress, Catherine Üpscher, who marries Marshal Lefebvre and becomes a Duchess. The opera was first produced in London at the Lyric Theatre in 1903 and ran for 236 performances. Subsequently, it enjoyed a successful New York production at Daly's Theatre and other productions around the"
"takes place in Paris in 1840 near the Rotunda of the Temple, with the flower-shop and a wine-shop in view.<br> Pierre Aubertin is the fiancé of Thérèse – the pretty flower-girl, called the 'la fauvette du temple' – and Joseph Abrial, is betrothed to his love Zélie. Thérèse is overheard singing by the former star singer turned teacher Saint-Angénor, who is determined to make her his pupil – he says to make her fortune, but also so that he can prove the value of his singing method. Pierre and Joseph are called up and obliged to depart as soldiers for"
"never hears. Notes Sources Tosca Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, ""La Tosca"", is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias. Puccini saw Sardou's play when it was touring Italy in"
"which helped to pave the way for the revolution in French musical theatre Gluck brought to Paris with ""Iphigénie en Aulide"" in 1774. ""Scene: the opera takes place at Langres in Gaul."" ""Scene: a public place""<br> The young Gaulish nobleman Sabinus is looking forward to his wedding with his beloved Éponine. He tells his friend Natalis that he is planning a revolt against Roman rule too. The Roman governor, Mucien, has been acting tyrannically and has made advances towards Éponine. The wedding ceremony begins, but the celebrations are interrupted by the arrival of Arbate, who says that Mucien has forbidden"
"she is reading with reality. In the book Francesca da Rimini is found by her husband with another man. Ugo enters and the couple greet each other. Suddenly Parisina’s maid La Verde bursts in to announce the return of Nicolo d’Este from his hunting trip. The Marquis discovers his own son in bed with his mistress and condemns them both to be beheaded. Parisina (Mascagni) Parisina is a ""tragedia lirica"", or opera, in four acts by Pietro Mascagni. Gabriele D'Annunzio wrote the Italian libretto after Byron's poem ""Parisina"" of 1816. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in"
"order to get rid of the comic elements in 1795 (after ""Euphrosine"", Méhul preferred to compose works which were either comedies or tragedies, but not a mixture of the two). The opera is set in Provence at the time of the Crusades. The tyrant Coradin is the guardian of three orphaned girls, including Euphrosine, who live in his castle. Euphrosine decides to persuade Coradin to marry her so she can reform his character. But the Countess of Arles is jealous of Euphrosine and turns Coradin against her, encouraging him to give her poison. The doctor warns Euphrosine about the plot"
"of which were swiftly reported in the newspapers. On 25 August 1830, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, an uprising followed a special performance, in honor of William I's birthday, of Daniel Auber's ""La Muette de Portici"" ""(The Mute Girl of Portici)"", a sentimental and patriotic opera set against Masaniello's uprising against the Spanish masters of Naples in the 17th century. After the duet, ""Amour sacré de la patrie"", (Sacred love of Fatherland) with Adolphe Nourrit in the tenor role, many audience members left the theater and joined the riots which had already begun. The crowd poured"
"""Suor Angelica"" was moved from the 17th century to 1938, and ""Gianni Schicchi"" was moved from 1299 to 1959. ""A complete synopsis of each opera may be found in their individual articles"" The opera is dark and brooding, with the violence and grit associated with verismo opera. This second opera, Puccini's personal favorite (but usually the one to be omitted if only two of the operas are performed), is an uplifting tale of religious redemption. The third opera is the most popular, a farce full of greed and conniving. Notes Cited sources Other sources Il trittico Il trittico (""The Triptych"")"
"Le Villi Le Villi (""The Willis"" or ""The Fairies"") is an opera-ballet in two acts (originally one) composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, based on the short story ""Les Willis"" by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. Karr's story was in turn based in the Central European legend of the Vila, also used in the ballet ""Giselle"". The opera, in its original one-act version, was first performed at the Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, on 31 May 1884. ""Le Villi"" is Puccini's first stage work. It was written for an 1883 competition of one-act operas by the publisher Sonzogno"
"repeated in ""The Decameron"" of Giovanni Boccaccio. The action takes place in 13th-century Provence. The opera is divided into 15 scenes. The Protector (a rich land-owner) pays the Boy (an artist) to create and illustrate a manuscript about his family. The Boy and the Protector's wife Agnès are attracted to each other. Incensed by the reawakened independence of his wife, the Protector murders the Boy and forces Agnès unwittingly to eat his heart. Agnès commits suicide. 'Angels' comment throughout on the action from a modern-day perspective. One reviewer described the music as ""glistening, mysterious sounds"" from the orchestra (which includes"
"lyric theater scores for the following operettas or zarzuelas: ""Deuda De Amor"", ""La Negra Quirina"", ""Le Chant Des Tropiques"", ""Niña Mercé"", and ""Toi, c'est Moi"" ‒ several of which were premiered in Paris during the 1930s. ""Toi, c'est Moi"", the operetta co-written with popular French novelist, Henri Duvernois, and starring Simone Simon, opened at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris in September 1934. The work consisted of a series of extremely varied numbers punctuated by humorous comedy scenes. The Cuban-born musicologist, Alejo Carpentier, praised Simons' excellent musical and technical accomplishment saying that ""Toi C'est Moi"" was by far the peak"
"and Ruth Vincent in the title role. Isabel Jay replaced the pregnant Vincent late in the run. Costumes were by Percy Anderson. It also toured in Britain and America and was revived, including a 1915 production at the Adelphi Theatre. The New York production featured Vincent, Rea, Gordon and Le Hay. With the success of the London run of ""Véronique"", chef Auguste Escoffier created a new dish for London's Carlton Hotel: Sole Véronique. The action takes place in and around Paris during the reign of Louis Philippe, in 1840. The lifestyle of Vicomte Florestan, a dashing but feckless young aristocrat,"
"its arias arranged for solo voice and piano by Auguste Charlot. However, despite its success with the audience on the opening night when Halévy was called to the stage by their applause, the opera does not appear to have been revived after its initial run. Setting: Fontainebleau and Paris in the early 18th century Gilbert de Mauléon, a handsome but naive young aristocrat from the Cévennes region, stops at an inn in Fontainebleau on his way to Paris. He plans to marry Valentine d'Aubigny whom he has not seen in the ten years since their engagement at the age of"
"him to doubt himself. This doubt prevents him from expressing his love for his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual Roxane, as he believes that his ugliness would prevent him the ""dream of being loved by even an ugly woman."" The play opens in Paris, 1640, In the theatre of the Hôtel Burgundy. Members of the audience slowly arrive, representing a cross-section of Parisian society from pickpockets to nobility. Christian de Neuvillette, a handsome new cadet, arrives with Lignière, a drunkard who he hopes will identify the young woman with whom he has fallen in love. Lignière recognizes her as"
"in 1828 and revived in 1835. Both of these were probably derived from the French play ""Eustache de St Pierre, ou Le siège de Calais"" by Hubert (pen name of Philippe-Jacques Laroche), which had been given in Paris in 1822 and was in turn taken from the 1765 play ""Le siège de Calais"" by Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy. The historical basis was Edward III's siege of Calais in 1346, toward the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. The opera was premiered on 19 November 1836 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. It was dedicated to the Queen Mother, Maria"
"Ninette (opera) Ninette is an opéra comique in three acts, with music by Charles Lecocq and words by Charles Clairville Jr, Eugène Hubert, G. Lebeaut and Ch. de Trogoff. It was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, on 28 February 1896. The opera depicts the complicated but ultimately successful course of true love between two French couples in the reign of Louis XIII. The two leading characters, Cyrano de Bergerac and Ninon de Lenclos, are loosely based on historical figures. This fictionalisation of Cyrano preceded, and is quite different from, Edmond Rostand's well-known version, which was written the"
"latter consists of relatively short lyrical numbers and spoken dialogue, ""Le Comte Ory"" consists of ""highly developed, even massive musical forms linked by accompanied recitative. Although the opera contains some of Rossini's most colorful orchestral writing, the quaint, brief overture is oddly restrained and unassuming, ending with a whisper of pizzicato strings. It was first performed on 20 August 1828 at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera. It was given in London at the King's Theatre in Italian on 28 February 1829, in New Orleans at the Théâtre d'Orléans on 16 December 1830 and in New York on"
"conscious use of well-known melodies that were suitable to establish period and local color and to facilitate the audience's understanding of the extensive mime. The ballet's composer Holger Simon Paulli attempted to evoke Paris in the 1820s and 1830s. The ballet opens with Paulli's orchestrated version of Weber's concert waltz, ""Invitation to the Dance"". Later in the score Paulli utilised Chopin's ""Grande valse brillante"" in E-flat major and Paisiello's aria ""Nel cor più non mi sento"" from the opera ""La Molinara"". The divertissement in act 1 (Pas d'école) relies heavily on musical borrowings and the well-known ""pas de trois"" employs"
"Manon Lescaut (Puccini) Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini, composed between 1890 and 1893. The story is based on the 1731 novel ""L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut"" by the Abbé Prévost. In 1884 an opera by Jules Massenet entitled ""Manon"", and based on the same novel, was premiered and has also become popular. The libretto is in Italian, and was cobbled together by five librettists whom Puccini employed: Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, and the composer himself also contributed to the"
"compositions for strings: the quartet ""Crisantemi"" (January 1890), three ""Menuets"" (probably 1884) and a ""Scherzo"" (1883?). The love theme comes from the aria ""Mentia l'avviso"" (1883). Puccini's publisher, Ricordi, had been against any project based on Prévost's story because Jules Massenet had already made it into a successful opera, ""Manon"", in 1884. While Puccini and Ricordi may not have known it, the French composer Daniel Auber had also already written an opera on the same subject with the title ""Manon Lescaut"", in 1856. Despite all the warnings, Puccini proceeded. ""Manon is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot"
"Opera on January 23, 1856. ""Coppélia"" was originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, and was based upon two stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann: It premiered on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial l'Opéra, with the 16-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi in the principal role of Swanhilde. Its first flush of success was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris (which also led to the early death of Giuseppina Bozzacchi, on her 17th birthday), but eventually it became the most-performed ballet at the Opéra. Napoleon III re-established the custom of concerts at the"
"Parisina (opera) Parisina (also known as Parisina d'Este) is an opera (""tragedia lirica""), in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Byron's 1816 poem ""Parisina"". The characters of Parisina and Duke Azzo in both Byron's poem and Donizetti's opera are very loosely based on the historical figures of Parisina Malatesta (the daughter of Andrea Malatesta) and Niccolò III d'Este. ""Parisina"" premiered on 17 March 1833 at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence. A performance at the Teatro Argentina in Rome is the setting for a key scene in of the novel ""The Count of Monte"